Trip Down Victory Lane: Buddy Lazier's need for Speed

VAIL, Colo. – True story about Bob Lazier, a driver in the 1981 Indianapolis 500.

Shortly after razing a perfectly good ski lodge he owned at the base of Vail Mountain, Bob took the family dog, Indy, to a paint store for a match. Bob didn’t want another Chocolate Labrador Retriever, although he got one a couple of years later; he sought to replicate the color of the` fur.

Today, in the Tivoli Lodge that opened in 2006, Indy’s successor, named Speed, blends with the couch and chairs because the cushions are his color. Lazier even has the copyright for it.

That’s an example of the detail in Tivoli, and it helps explain why TripAdvisor ranks it the No. 1 hotel in Vail Valley.

It’s why Chip Ganassi, Tony George, Doug Boles and other motor sports dignitaries visit year after year. It’s what drives Lazier’s oldest son, Buddy, and his family to rise each morning to serve as caretakers.

But the hospitality starts with Speed, who blends business with pleasure.

Watch him. He moves freely through the oversized lobby, greeting each guest as if they’re lifelong friends. Pats on his back encourage that; the snippets of bacon he receives along the way is the ultimate motivation. (Bob even offers leftover oatmeal.)

When Speed is satisfied – and the people are, too – he returns to the elevator, waits for the door to open, ambles in and exits precisely at the fifth floor where the families reside.

“There is no other way to say it,” says Buddy, the official owner of the large dog. “The guests eat him up. He works the room, but he owns the room, too.”

Interestingly, there is more Speed in this place than speed. Buddy won the 1996 Indianapolis 500, but there’s no sign of it. Oh, there used to be, in the Grand Prix Room, a steakhouse that was part of the previous Tivoli, but during the rebuild Buddy decided the scads of racing friends who visit each year do so as an escape. Besides, he says, a Borg-Warner replica trophy and the cup honoring his 2000 IndyCar Series championship need property security in a public place, something he hasn’t invested in.

This Tivoli Lodge opened in Vail, Colo., in 2006.

Buddy has keepsakes in his top-floor office, but he says the Indy trophy is boxed away. He and Jaques, who also drove Indy cars, got humbleness from their father.

“You’ll notice my father also doesn’t have anything displayed, and he could,” Buddy says. “But you’d be surprised – at least 50 percent of our guests were either familiar with racing before they arrived or when they leave the hotel they’ve become fans of racing.”

Another noticeable fact is that while Buddy manages the hotel, his wife, Kara, is “the manager’s manager.” While he guides the general direction of the family business, which includes numerous real estate holdings and developments in the valley, she is the one with a finger on the pulse. Ask her anything; she seems to know everything.

But don’t discount Buddy. His strong eye for interior design shaped how this lodge looks. He insisted on the large stone fireplace that is the lobby’s centerpiece. His choice of wood color fits. Just don’t ask him to explain what he does day-to-day.

“What’s my skill set?” he asks. “Whatever it takes.”

Jaques helps, too, although he’s more on the real estate side of the business.

That the Laziers pulled this place together is something of a story in itself. Bob built the first hotel on the site in 1968, and former guests describe an unmatched charm. When the decision was made to raze and rebuild in 2004, the economy was churning along and Vail was undertaking a complete renaissance. A half-dozen or more skyscraper cranes were in full force.

Then the recession hit, and it hit this alpine community hard.

“We rebuilt for 2.5 years and had one good year,” Buddy says. “You can only imagine a recession is incredibly bad timing for a resort. We couldn’t give away a room.”

Buddy and Kara sold their gorgeous home to move onto the same property where he and Jaques had been raised. They expanded the fifth floor, giving their family space just down the hall from Bob and his wife, Diane. Jaques keeps an office up there, too. Speed roams through all of it.

“Having them close enables us to help them, and that’s part of the reason we’re here,” Buddy says of his parents. “It’s part of the natural life cycle.

“But as owners, anybody who is really aggressive with their business, you have to stay on top of things closely. I’m lucky my family enjoys the same things in life I enjoy, so we can be a part of it. We can do everything from here, and we stay busy.”

When not attending to the lodge, Buddy and Bob work to grow the sponsorship package for Buddy’s Indianapolis 500 ride. Lazier Partners Racing literally is a collection of friends and business associates interested in keeping the Lazier tradition going. The combination of them have 25 starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it’s not out of the question that Buddy’s 17-year-old son, Flinn, a racer in his own right, could add to that figure.

Recent 500s haven’t been as kind to Buddy, but his overall resume there is strong. He’s most proud of the fact he’s competed in the event in four decades. His first attempt came in a year when Emerson Fittipaldi won for the first time (1989). Buddy has been the oldest driver in the field for several years now, and he will be 48-plus when the green flag drops May 29.

“I enjoy (racing) very much, I still do, and I also know, given a (good) car, I can do very well at Indianapolis,” he says. “If I felt I had a teammate that could beat me given the same set of circumstances, I would probably hang it up.”

Buddy’s goal has been to earn 20 Indianapolis 500 starts, and next month’s race could be his 19th. How much further will racing’s road take him? Difficult to say. But he knows the way back home.

Race facts: This was the first year of the Tony George-created Indy Racing League, and CART went to Michigan International Speedway to stage its own 500-mile race on the same day (it started just as Lazier came to the finish line). The month was marred by the death of pole winner Scott Brayton, whose Team Menard car had a right rear tire failure approaching Turn 2 during practice May 17. Brayton’s loss elevated teammate Tony Stewart, a rookie, to the pole, and the USAC champion led the first 31 laps before incurring suspension failure on Lap 82. Five drivers led at least 20 laps, and Lazier, who started fifth with a broken back due to a crash two months earlier at Phoenix, was in third place with 10 laps to go. He passed Alessandro Zampedri and then Davy Jones to score the first race win of his career. Behind Lazier on the final lap, Roberto Guerrero spun to the Turn 4 wall, collecting Zampedri and Eliseo Salazar. Zampedri’s car climbed the fence, severely injuring his legs and feet, and flew over the top of Salazar, who actually ducked his head to avoid being struck. In Michigan, Jimmy Vasser won the CART race by 10.995 seconds over Mauricio Gugelmin, the only other driver on the lead lap at the finish.

Margin of victory: 0.695 seconds over Davy Jones.

Winner’s takes: $1.367 million.

Indy career: Lazier made his first qualifying attempt in 1989 in a car entered by his father, Bob, who finished 19th in the ’81 500. Lazier crashed in qualifying that first year and was bumped from the field by John Paul Jr. the next year. He finally earned a starting spot in ’91 but lasted only until Turn 1 due to a spin trying to avoid Gary Bettenhausen’s crash. Lazier again failed to qualify in ’93 and ’94 before getting John Menard’s third car in ’95 (the team’s other two cars qualified on the front row). After winning in ’96, Lazier had a series of good runs, stringing together five straight top-10 finishes. He was second to Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000, the year he won the IRL championship for Ron Hemelgarn. Only other top-10 finish came in 2005 for Panther Racing.

Quote in victory lane: “Right now it still feels like a dream. (It) feels like I’m going to wake up and need to go to the racetrack to get ready to go race.”